J  Duke  University  Libraries 

^T^j-w  Quarterly  circu 

l  cm,  Conf  Pam  12mo  ^u 

IZn0  01113^330 


QUARTERLY  CIRCULAR. 


Quartermaster  General's  Officb, 
Richmond,   Dec.  31,  13G4. 

The  following  General  Orders,  issued  from  the  office  of  the  Adjutant 
and  Inspector  General  during  the  fourth  quarter  of  the  year  1^64,  are 
published  for  the  information  and  guidance  of  all  officers  of  the  Quarter- 
master's Department: 

General  Orders,  No.  78,  October  11,  1864. 


I.  The  attention  of  officers  and  Boldiers  is  specially  directed  t^  the 
34th  Article  of  Army  Regulations,  and  General  Orders,  No.  o*  ( 
The  rapidly  increasing  correspondence  of  the  War  Department  demands 
that  their  requirements  shall  hereafter  be  strictly  observed.  A  violation 
of  them  will  subject  the  offender  to  prompt  trial  by  court  martial.  The 
regulations  respecting  military  correspdj  are  made  after  long  ex- 

perience, and  are  indispensable  to  an  intelligent  and  efficient  discharge  <»f 
business. 

The  remarks  and  opinions  of  intermediate  commanders  upon  the  sub- 
ject matter  of  each  communication,  are  important  to  the  Department,  and 
in  all  cases  required.  Opportunity  must,  therefore,  be  afforded  for  their 
expression;  and  all  communications  which  are  not  forwarded  thi  I 
the  prescribed  channel,  will  be  invariably  returned,  without  other  action 
than  instructions  to  bring  the  party  to  trial  for  violation  of  orders.* 

Letter  paper  will  be  folded  in  three,  and  foolscap  in  four  equal  folds, 
parallel  with  the  writing,  and  endorsed  on  the  fold  corresponding  urith  tkt 
top  of  the  sheet,  thus  : 

Post  or  Station  and  Date  of  Letter. 


Name  and  Rank  of  Writer. 
Analysis  of  Contents. 


*  This  order  is  not,  of  course,  intended  to  be  enfpreed  in, eye?  of  eorre*ponn>nca 
between  this  Bureau  and  officers  o<  the  QuarterraWMerK  Department,  in  which  th« 
opinions  of  commanding  officers  are  not  important,  or  when  the  subject  matter  of 
th«  same  is  one  which  pertains  exclusively  to  quartermaster*'  return*,  tc. 


The  endorsements  should  be  carefully  made,  so  as  to  afford  information 
of  its  contents  at  a  glance,  and  to  present  only  those  points  which  ar« 
material  and  pertinent.  This  will  leave  ample  space  for  subsequent  en- 
dorsement. Commanders  will  return  for  completion  all  papers  not  so 
•ndorsed.  The  practice  of  wrapping1  communications  with  mere  strips 
of  paper  for  the  purpose  of  endorsement,  owing  to  their  liability  to  be 
detached  and  lost,  is  prohibited. 


General  Order*,  No.  83,  Novamber  1, 1884. 

III.  Paragraph  VII,  General  Orders,  No.  48  (current  series),  is  thus 
amended : 

Officers  of  the  Quartermaster's  Department  failing  to  return  the  sacks 
in  which  grain  is  received  from  the  quartermaster,  will  be  charged  thre« 
dollars  for  every  one  not  returned. 

VI.  Commanders  of  cavalry  regiments  or  battalions  will  require  com- 
pany commanders  to  keep  a  descriptive  roll  of  all  horses  in  their  compa- 
nies, noting  all  changes  which  are  made  amongst  them  by  casualties  or 
other  causes,  as  they  occur. 

VII.  Every  horse,  borne  upon  the  descriptive  roll,  will  be  treated  as 
public  property,  so  long  as  forage  and  the  forty  cents  a  day  are  drawn 
from  the  government.  No  soldier  will  be  permitted  to  ride  his  horse,  ex- 
cept in  the  discharge  of  public  duty,  or  to  sell  or  exchange  him,  except 
to  secure  one  more  serviceable ;  such  superiority  to  be  determined  and 
certified  by  the  company  officers  present  for  duty,  and  the  fact  noted  upon 
the  descriptive  roll.  Such  sales  or  exchanges,  however,  are  strictly  for- 
bidden between  cavalrymen  of  the  same  or  different  commands. 


General  Orders,  No.  84,  Not.  21, 1864. 

V.  The  telegraph  will  be  used  as  economically  as  possible,  and  mes- 
sages will  not  be  sent  by  it  without  the  approval  of  the  commanding 
officer  present.  Where  the  telegram  exceeds  ten  words,  the  voucher  for 
its  payment  must  embrace,  in  his  certificate,  that  it  was  not  for  the  per- 
sonal benefit  of  Ibe  person  by  whom  it  was  sent,  and  that  it  was  neces- 
sary, and  contained  official  business,  which  could  not  be  transacted  by 
mail  without  detriment  to  the  public  service. 

VI.  Supplies  collected  or  held  by  county  or  district  agents,  for  tbs 
benefit  of  soldiers'  families,  are  not  liable  to  impressment. 


Adjutant  and  Inspector  General's  Office. 
Richmond,  December  15.  1864. 


Special  Orders,  )  -  .  „„, 
No.  297.  \  Extract. 


XXXV.  To  facilitate  missionary  operations  in  the  army,  post  quarter- 
masters and  commissaries  are  allowed  to  receive  from  any  religious  de- 
nomination such  amount  of  forage  and  subsistence  as  may  be  offered  by 
the  denomination,  and  to  receipt  for  the  same,  to  be  returned  in  kind  in 
rations  to  be  issued  in  the  field  to  properly  accredited  missionaries,  under 
such  regulations  as  will  hereafter  be  prescribed  by  each  Department. 

By  command  of  the  Secretary  of  War. 

John  W.  Riely, 

Assistant  Adjutant  General 


ADDITIONAL  INSTRUCTIONS. 
Hides,  &c. 

1.  Officers  of  the.  Quartermaster's  Department  are  notified,  that  here- 
after no  accounts  for  dead  animals  will  be  allowed  to  pass,  unless  th« 
hides  are  accounted  for,  or  satisfactory  reasons  are  given  for  failure  to  ac- 
count for  the  same. 

Miscellaneous  Stores. 

2.  Depot  officers,  having  on  hand  miscellaneous  stores,  to  wit,  other 
quartermasters'  stores  than  clothing,  camp  equipage  and  stationery,  can 
issue  the  same  at  discretion,  and  independent  of  the  action  of  this  offics, 
taking  care  to  prefer,  as  far  as  may  be  proper,  requisitions  from  the  field . 
A  report  will  be  made  quarterly,  showing  the  miscellaneous  stores  pur- 
chased or  received,  the  aggregate  of  issues,  and  the  remainder  of  each 
article  on  hand. 

Reports  of  Officers. 

3.  The  attention  of  all  officers  of  the  Quartermaster's  Department, 
<tther  than  those  serving  with  troops  in  the  field,  is  called  to  the  require- 
ment contained  in  paragraph  5,  ''additional  instructions"  of  Circular  of 
October  1,  1864,  directing  them  to  forward  reports  of  their  present  duties, 
letting  forth  the  orders  under  which  they  are  acting. 


Clothing  of  Deceased  Soldiers. 

4.  All  post  quartermasters  and  officers  attached  to  hospitals  will  do  all 
in  their  power  to  collect  and  preserve  the  military  clothing  of  deceased 
soldiers,  in  accordance  with  existing  orders.  It  will  be  turned  over  for 
insue  to  negroes,  to  the  nearest  depot  officer,  and  the  amount  reported 
quarterly  to  this  office.  The  following  are  the  names  and  location  of  th* 
depot  officers  to  whom  transfers  can  be  made : 

1.  Maj.  W.  G.  Beutley,  Richmond,  Va. 

2.  Maj.  H.  M.  Bell,  Staunton,  Va. 

3.  Maj.  H.  R.  Hooper,  Raleigh,  N.  C. 

4.  Capt.  G.  J.  Crafts,  Charleston,  S.  C. 

5.  Maj.  L.  O.  Bridewell,  Augusta,  Ga. 

6.  Maj.  F.  W.  Dillard,  Columbus,  Ga. 

7.  Capt.  W.  M.  Gillaspie,  Montgomery,  Ala. 

8.  Maj.  L.  Mims,  Enterprise,  Miss. 

9.  Maj.  W.  J.  Anderson,  Columbus,  Miss. 

It  is  important  to  collect  these  and  other  supplies,  suitable  for  issue  to 
negroes,  hired  or  impressed  by  the  year.  Depot  officers  will  do  all  they 
can  to  increase  the  supply,  and  will  make  reports  quarterly  to  this  office, 
distinct  from  the  reports  now  made  weekly  and  monthly,  showing  the 
quantity  of  each  article  received,  the  total  issues  made,  and  the  remainder 
on  hand. 

Bonded  Agents,  how  Paid. 

5.  Bonded  agents  of  the  Commissary  and  other  Departments  will  be  paid 
by  the  Departments  to  which  they  are  attached,  and  not  from  funds  of 
this  Department 

Pay  Funds. 

QUARTERMASTRR   GENERAL'S   OFFICE, 

Richmond,  January  1865. 

6.  All  pay  funds  in  the  possession  of  officers  of  the  Quartermaster's  De- 
partment, attached  to  the  armies  of  the  Confederate  States,  will,  on  the 
completion  of  each  periodical  payment,  be  reported  to  the  Chief  Quarter- 
master of  said  armies,  who  will  deduct  the  amount  from  the  next  subse- 
quent estimate  submitted. 

Estimates  will  show  the  number  of  officers  of  each  grade,  non-commis- 
sioned officers,  musicians  ,and  privates,  in  each  regiment  or  battalion, 
together  with  the  brigades,  divisions  and  corps  of  which  they  form  a  part, 


and  will  be  made  for  pay  due  for  each  period  of  two  months  separately ; 
so  that,  in  the  event  of  the  inability  ot  the  Treasury  Department  to  sup- 
ply the  whole  amount  needed — should  estimates  embrace  a  longer  time — 
a  sum  sufficient  to  pay  for  a  stated  period,  may  be  furnished. 

Returns  of  disbursements  made,  on  account  of  pay  of  the  army,  will 
be  carefully  compared  with  estimates  presented,  in  the  office  of  the  Quar- 
termaster General,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  the  latter  are  in 
excess  of  the  amount  required  to  pay  the  troops,  and  officers  will  be  held 
to  a  strict  accountability  for  overestimating.  These  returns  will  be  made 
every  two  months. 

Care  will  be  observed  to  pay  officer*  and  men  granted  furloughs  01 
indulgence,  before  they  leave  their  commands,  to  the  date  of  the  last  mus- 
ter for  payment ;  and  no  payment  will  be  ma<le  them  by  post  quarter- 
masters for  a  period  anterior  to  such  time.  Chief  Quartermasters  will 
be  careful  to  cause  compliance  with  this  order. 

Attention  is  directed  to  the  accompanying  extract  from  General  Orders, 
No.  1,  Adjutant  and  Inspector  General's  office,  January  6th,  1865,  viz: 

VIII.  Generals  commanding  armies  and  departments  will  require  com- 
pany commanders  to  furnish  descriptive  lists  to  soldiers  sent  to  hospitals. 

IX.  Sick  or  wounded  soldiers  in  hospitals  may  be  paid,  as  heretofore, 
four  months'  pay,  if  due,  upon  receipts  supported  by  their  affidavits;  but 
company  commanders  will  provide  them  with  descriptive  lists  before  they 
leave  their  commands,  if  it  be  possible.  If  otherwise,  they  will,  as  soon 
thereafter  as  practicable,  forward  such  lists  to  the  surgeon  in  charge  of 
the  hospitals  of  which  they  may  be  inmates. 

X.  Articles  of  clothing  issued  during  the  year  to  soldiers,  will  be  stated 
on  company  muster  roll?,  with  the  prices  annexed,  upon  which  annual 
settlements  on  clothing  accounts  are  made. 

XI.  Payment  of  the  bounty  of  fifty  dollars,  allowed  by  the  Act  of  Con- 
gress, approved  December  11th,  1861,  will  not  be  paid  to  persons  between 
seventeen  aud  fifty  years,  subject  to  conscription.  It  will  be  limited  to 
those  not  liable  to  service,  who  enter  the  army  for  the  war  as  non-com- 
missioned officers,  musicians  or  privates.  All  who  enter  the  general  ser- 
vice from  the  reserves,  must  do  so  by  transfer ;  and  in  no  case  will  bounty 
be  paid  upon  such  transfers  or  enlistments. 

XII.  Quartermasters  performing  duty  exclusively  as  paymasters,  will 
be  under  the  control  of  Chief  Quartermasters  of  armies  or  military  de- 
partments.    They  will  not  be  subject  to  orders  from  other  quartermasters. 

If,  from  any  cause,  the  paymaster  of  a  corps  or  division  is  unable  to 
discharge  the  duties  appertaining  to  his  office,  the  Chief  Quartermaster 


of  \he  army  with  which  such  corps  or  division  may  be  serving,  will  de- 
signate a  quartermaster  or  an  assistant  quartermaster  to  perform  such  duty 
temporarily;  in  which  event,  the  name  of  the  quartermaster  so  assigned 
will  be  communicated  to  the  Quartermaster  General. 

Clothing. 

Quartermaster  General's  Office, 
»  Richmond,  Jan.  23,  1865. 

7.  The  attention  of  officers  and  soldiers  is  called  to  the  following  Act  of 
Congress,  and  regulations  based  thereon : 

[No.  22] 

An  Act  to  provide  Commissioned  Officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy  and 
Marine  Corps  icith  Clothing, 

•'The  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America  do  enact,  That 
all  officers  of  the  army,  navy  and  marine  corps,  on  duty  in  the  field, 
afloat  or  in  batteries,  and  all  officers  on  other  duty  who  are  disabled  for 
service  in  the  field,  hy  reason  of  wounds  or  disease  contracted  in  the  ser- 
vice, and  officers  of  the  invalid  corps  on  duty,  below  the  rank  of  briga- 
dier general  in  the  army,  and  below  the  rank  of  captain  in  the  navy, 
shall  be  furnished  once  in  every  year,  with  one  complete  suit  of  uniform 
clothing:  provided,  that  the  quantity  and  quality  of  clothing  to  be  de- 
livered to  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates,  seamen  and  marines, 
under  existing  or  future  laws,  shall  in  no  wise  be  interfered  with  by  reason 
of  any  th'ng  contained  in  this  act;  and  in  the  distribution  of  clothing, 
officers  on  duty  in  the  field  shall,  in  all  cases,  have  a  preference  over  those 
on  post,  or  detailed  on  office  duty,  so  that  when  there  is  not  a  sufficiency 
of  clothing  for  all,  the  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates  shall  be 
first  served,  and  next  to  them  the  officers  actually  on  duty  in  the  field." 
[Approved  January  16, 1865.] 

A  true  copy. 

Jas.  M    Matthews,  Law  Clerk. 

Officers. 

The  above  act,  after  securing  a  supply  to  soldiers,  prefers  officer* 
below  the  rank  of  brigadier  general,  as  follows :  First,  officers  on  duty 
in  the  field ;  next,  officers  on  duty,  disabled  for  service  in  the  field,  by 
reason  of  wounds,  or  disease  contracted  in  the  service,  and  officers  of  the 
invalid  corps  on  duty, all  of  whom  draw  free  of  cost:  and,  lastly,  permits 


other  officers  to  pur-eliase,  as  heretofore,  under  the  provisions  of  the  old 
act  of  February  17,  1864. 

Care  will  be  taken  to  observe  these  preferences.  To  that  end,  order* 
will  not  be  given  hereafter  at  this  office,  under  any  circumstances,  for  th» 
purchase  of  cloth,  or  any  article  of  clothing,  or  for  the  issue  of  same. 

Officers  in  the  field  will  be  supplied  through  the  Chief  Quartermas- 
ter of  the  command  to  which  they  may  be  attached.  When  the  supply 
will  permit,  cloth  will  be  apportioned  between  the  armies  in«the  field  ac- 
cording to  their  strength,  and  will  be  placed  at  the  control  of  the  Chief 
Quartermaster  thereof,  who  will  be  looked  to,  t<  distribute  the  same  to 
the  officers  entitled  and  most  in  need.  Other  art  lies  of  clothing,  not  ex- 
ceeding in  all  one  suit  a  year,  may  be  issued  to  c  ficers  in  the  field,  from 
stores  forwarded  to  the  command  to  which,  they  1  elong,  when  the  want* 
of  the  privates  will  admit. 

Other  officers  will  draw  or  purchase,  as  the  ;ase  may  be,  from  the 
nearest  depot,  but  from  such  supplies  only  as  ma;  be  set  aside,  from  tirm- 
to  time,  by  direction  of  this  office.  Mr.  Ranki  ,  bonded  agent  of  this 
Department,  corner  of  14th  and  Cary  streets,  \vi  1  be  charged  with  the 
duty  of  issuing  and  selling,  at  this  point,  cloth  ar  1  articles  of  clothing  to 
officers.  When  he  has  nothing  for  sale  or  issue,  i(  will  be  useless  to  make 
application  elsewhere  in  this  city,  all  other  officers  being  prohibited  from 
either  selling  or  issuing. 

The  yearly  suit  of  clothing  for  an  officer  will  consist  of  a  coat  and 
pair  of  pants,  or  material  (4  yards  double  width), and  trimmings  therefor, 
one  pair  of  shoes,  one  hat  or  cap,  three  pairs  of  drawers,  three  cotton 
shirts,  two  flannel  shirts  and  four  pairs  of  socks  Issues  on  sales  to  offi- 
cers will  be  noted  on  suitable  rolls  prepared  fur  that  purpose,  and  in  every 
case  the  officer  shall  certify  that  the  articles  drawn,  or  purchased  are  ne- 
cessary for  his  own  personal  comfort  and  use,  and'that  the  same  will  not 
be  in  excess  of  his  prescribed  allowance.  Returns)  of  such  issues  or  sales 
will  be  made  quarterly  to  this  office.  The  price  of  cloth,  when  sold,  will 
be  $20  a  yard,  double  width,  and  of  other  articles bf  clothing  as  fixed  in 
General  Orders. 


Privates. 

Men  attached  to  command's  in  the  field  will  bp  supplied  there,  and 
men  who  have  been  retired,  at  the  post  at  which  they  may  be  located  in 
orders.  Issues  to  men  on  furlough  and  on  horse  details  have  been  sus- 
pended. Meu  in  hospital  will  be  supplied  by  the  issuing  quartermaster 
attached  thereto.    All  detailed  men  in  Richmond  and  the  immediate  vici- 


8 


nit j  are  supplied  through  Mr.  Rankin.    Paroled  and  exchanged  men 
draw  at  Camp  Lee. 

The  interest  of  the  service  and  the  dispatch  of  public  business  re- 
quire that  these  regulations  shall  be  strictly  observed. 

i 

Stationary,  Blanks  and  Printing. 

8.  All  purchases  of  stationery,  by  contract  or  otherwise,  all  contract* 
for  making 'paper,  and  contracts  for  printing  quartermasters'  blanks,  for 
the  states  of  Virginia,  Nerth  Carolina  and  South  Carolina,  will  hereafter 
be  made  exclusively  by  Major  Thomas  L.  Broun,  Quartermaster,  Colum- 
bia, Snurh  Carolina;  aud  in  the  states  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
Florida,  and  other  portions  of  the  Confederacy,  this  side  of  the  Missis- 
sippi river,  by  Major  J  H.  McMahon,  Quartermaster,  Montgomery,  Ala- 
bama. Quartermasters  having  contracts  for  stationery,  or  an  excess  of 
any  kind  of  stationery  on  hand,  are  directed  to  turn  the  same  over  to  one 
or  the  other  of  these  officers,  according  to  locality. 

9.  Majors  Broun  and  McMahon,  are  empowered,  each  within  his  sec- 
tion of  country,  to  receive  all  stationery  imported  for  this  Department;  to 
recommend  such  detats  as  may  be  essential  to  the  execution  of  contract? 
for  stationery  or  printing;  to  establish  depots  of  stationery  and  blanks. 
and  to  issue  same  upon  requisitions  approved  at  this  office.  They  will 
make  monthly  reports  showing  the  quantity  purchased,  what  issued— dis- 


tinguishing between  the 
on  hand. 

10.    Field  and  tax  in 
post  quartermaster  all  ( 


different  armies  in  the  field — and  the  remainder 


iiud  quartermasters  will  turn  over  to  the  nearest 
nts,  sacks  and  wagon  covers  condemned  and  unfit 
for  use.  Post  quartern  asters  will  also  collect  all  cotton  and  linen  rags, 
rope  cuttings,  bagging,  damaged  cotton,  and  all  other  material  useful  in 
the  manufacture  of  pap  er.  The  same  will  be  reported  to  Major  Broun  or 
Major  McMahon,  and  will  be  held  subject  to  his  order. 

A.  R.  LAWTON, 

Quartermaster  General. 


Hollinger  Corp. 
PH8.5 


